The Voodoo Doll

Chapter LXII: A Meticulous Plan

The War kept on forever, because the Oracles made it so the angels and demons cannot die by each other's hands. Then, Lailah went ahead and closed the gates, ending everything, and being the reason Belleth came to exist.

Belleth was a demon who was particularly vicious and scary. He had everything to win over every enemy: Brains, Strategy, Combat skills, and muscle power. But most of all, he had an incredible amount of greed.

The Oracles lured him into their territory. They promised to give him exactly what he wished for, and he ended up falling in their hands. He thought he was in control, he was nothing but a fool.

Belleth waited for Noah to come to the Core. Baby Noah was, then, taken by none other than his own father Kai, who wanted revenge more than anything, because he was ditched by Lailah the moment his son was born. Naturally, someone who is forced to marry a human by a force stronger than her, would never love said-human, no matter how handsome or kind he is. That's what happened to Lailah, and that's exactly why she abandoned her husband, throwing herself into Michael's arms: The Captain of her Guard and her childhood's best friend.

The boy was raised by demons until he could no longer be. Once again, the Oracles convinced Belleth to send Noah to school. He had to make the biggest realization of his life, kill his foster father and run away from home. The time to shape the weapon arrived: he had to meet Hitori to acquire the feelings and experiences of a human being. Hitori would later serve as Noah's weakness. His worry, his anger towards the world, his love for her, they will all be the best threat there is, the best motive to turn Noah into a merciless monster, ready to kill everyone and everything on his track.

During the two teenagers' fake adventure towards finding out the truth, Noah would be shaped, Hitori would become weaker and weaker, depending entirely on Noah for her protection, and meanwhile, the Oracles would feed them little pieces of information, just to get them going so they wouldn't give up on their journey.

During all this time, Lailah was sent to them as a bodyguard in the shadows, disguising herself as Honoka, a nonchalant angel schoolgirl. She only reveals herself later, when the Oracles wanted to shake Noah a little bit, to make him rebel against the world, to make him think he was going to be in control of his own fate.

Only that he didn't. He couldn't.

Meanwhile, Michael cooperated with Kai: Michael wanted Lailah for himself, and Kai wanted Lailah's heart to break. They both had different objectives but used the same means: Noah had to lose himself, to turn entirely into a demon. That way, Lailah's heart will break, Kai gets his revenge, she turns to Michael for support, thus forgetting about ever having a son, and making another one with Michael.

That's why Kai brought the boy to the demons, and Michael helped him escape the Royal Castle, rendering him invisible from the angels' tracking powers, freeing him from being condemned forever.

Kai, then, pretended to be a slave to the demons to watch over Noah from afar. He was a double spy, telling Michael about Noah's whereabouts in the Core and telling Belleth about Lailah's movements.

However, when Hitori came to the story, things turned out to be a little more complicated.

Noah wasn't becoming an evil demon. He was softening, little by little, by the girl's charm. Michael and Kai's dream was getting farther and farther away from them. They kept hoping that Noah would be taken back by Belleth. What were they waiting for to claim their ultimate war weapon ? Michael couldn't take it anymore. He had to interfere. He appeared out of nowhere on that day in the Shibuya Crossing, giving Lailah a kiss that he hoped wouldn't be the last. The night before, the Oracles called him in his dreams. He was told to get rid of Hitori the moment Noah gets away from her. So when Honoka walked away with her son, it was Michael's chance. Hitori wanted to go back to her old home, because she wanted to find out more about her past.

He walked with her until they reached Cassiel's glasshouse. Of course, Michael didn't know at that time that Cassiel was one of the Oracles, and he won't find out any time soon.

Michael thought he could kill Hitori, but Cassiel interfered. Michael would have never made a move on Hitori if he wasn't encouraged by the Oracles. They had promised him he would be unscathed, his mischief would never reach Lailah's ears. That's why he went along with it without an ounce of hesitation.

His anger, his frustration, will be used against him.

When the time to claim Noah as a demon Lord came, the demons found no difficulty in taking him to Belleth's hideout. All they had to do was use Typhon's smartphone communication app, which was nothing but a gate to the different worlds: The Core, The Heavens, and the Earth.

That's why he, one of the Oracles, needed to disguise himself as a demon. Infiltrate both sides, and do as he pleases.

When Noah disappeared, his essence did too, triggering Lailah's anger at the demons and her declaration of War.

Seven days had already passed. Tomorrow, Hitori and Noah will wake up from their slumber as the ever truly reincarnated gods, the most powerful of immortal creatures, and the biggest war in the history of humankind...

will not happen.

Because there was one thing left for the Oracles to do to complete their sixteen-year-old scheme.

The real reason why Noah and Hitori were born wasn't for them to lead the higher quality humans into war. It wasn't for them to destroy each side. All this adventure's final goal wasn't for Lailah to regain her kingdom's trust in her or her son, wasn't for Michael to finally get his Queen's heart, not for Kai to break it and get his revenge, and certainly not for the two teenagers to live happily ever after.

This story does not end with everyone fulfilling their dreams. Everyone is just a pawn in the Oracles' hands.

When Hitori and Noah became the ultimate immortal creatures, the last of the Oracles' essence was transferred to them.

They were judged to be the perfect humans. The last hope for a perfect world.

The last Adam & Eve.

The second War was never meant to happen, because when the two fated ones meet one last time, all the others will be gone. The World as they knew it will end, and a new one will begin.

An endless field of grass under a cloudless blue sky. Two teenagers with nothing but each other, and a faraway stone-built well as their only company.

Just like Typhon's smartphone World.